The Story After the Story: DA SERIOUS VERSION
by yeehaw2
Summary: A re-working of my "The Story After the Story" as a serious drama. Oh snap.
1. Teaser

The Story After the Story- Da Serious Version

The Original _The Story After The Story_ was critically acclaimed; "awesome, silly, adorable", … "cute", … "cracktastically awesome"…

Now, its time for a new spin. Yeehaw2 proudly presents… The Story After The Story: Da Serious Version!

Loosely based off the original; new genre. This time, its serious. Get ready.

Coming soon to a website near you.

Author's Note: This story begins in media res.

_**In medias res**_ or _**medias in res**_ ("into the middle of affairs") is a Latin phrase denoting the literary and artistic narrative technique wherein the relation of a story begins either at the mid-point or at the conclusion, not at the beginning, establishing setting, character, and conflict via flashback and expository conversations relating the pertinent past. [wikipedia]


	2. Chapter 1

Roxas sat alone. He stared down at the table in front of him. There was a lot to process. He supposed being left alone would be good; time to him to adjust. It was sort of disorienting- but then again the whole of his existence so far had been pretty disorienting. Organization XIII, fake Twilight Town, going back to Sora, being, reborn- so to speak. Enough to make anyone's head spin.

_Just stay here for a bit. We won't be long… _They had said.

Roxas' thoughts were disrupted by a sound- the sound of the front door opening. He looked up. He wondered if he should go see. He wasn't even entirely sure what Sora and the others were doing, just that they had told him to stay here. Then the other three had shown up. As he wondered this, suddenly someone appeared in the doorway. It took him a second but he realized that he knew this person.

"Xion?" He got up suddenly. He was in shock. Her presence brought back all the memories he had lost, and seeing her here now…

Xion just nodded silently and smiled. For a moment Roxas wasn't sure what he should do, but before he thought about it anymore they were hugging.

After a minute or so, Roxas pulled away from the hug and looked at her. A thought had come suddenly. "Does, this mean..?" he asked.

She apparently understood because she nodded. Roxas walked over to the doorway of the kitchen he had been sitting in and peered out. Yes, he was there- Axel. Within about five seconds Roxas had rushed over to him and hugged him with surprising ferocity. Axel just hugged him back tightly. Neither of them said anything at first. After quite a few minutes they loosened their grips and looked at each other. The silence continued for a minute as they waited to see who would speak first. Axel did eventually.

"I think… we should talk…"

"Ok…" Roxas nodded. The thought back to past few times he had seen Axel- telling him was leaving the Organization, seeing him in Twilight Town when he didn't remember him at all, and finally what he had thought would be their final goodbye. Talking was definitely needed. They went into one of the bedrooms so they could speak in private.

Donald and Goofy had observed the scene. They gave each other an odd look and simply shrugged. Sora on the other hand, had not stuck around to see this teary reunion. He headed straight for the library so he could fill out a report as the King had asked. He knew Donald and Goofy would join him eventually. Mentally exhausted, he opened the door and flipped on the light switch.

"SURPRISE!"

To Sora's horror, he saw Kairi and Riku sitting there. "Oh-my-god!" he managed to gasp in utter shock. Then he went back into the hallway to calm himself from the heart attack he had just received.

Kairi looked over at Riku anxiously. Riku shrugged. _Riku's been grumpy lately…_ Kairi thought.

In the hall, Sora heard a voice call out his name. _The King is here too? _He breathed slowly once more, preparing himself, and went back inside.

"Sorry if we startled you, your friends wanted to surprise you…" Mickey said, sounding concerned. He seemed bewildered by Sora's reaction but didn't ask about it.

"You aren't mad are you?" Kairi asked nervously.

"Mad? No, no! Not at all!" Sora forced a smile. It's… _great_… to see you guys…"

Sora noticed Riku staring at him. He didn't say anything, he didn't smile, he didn't make any sort of expression or gesture. He just stared. Sora's heart pounded.

He barely even heard as Mickey said, "Welp, while were all here you can do something-"


	3. Chapter 2

"I know when… I left, that… I hurt you… and I'm sorry, but I-"

"It's ok, you don't have to apologize for that. I… understand… why you left I mean."

The two stared at each other without words for a moment.

"I… might not have had to if you had…"

"Been more honest?"

Silence.

"I know that I… could have-"

"You lied to me. That makes it hard to trust someone, no matter how much you care about them."

"Wha-, when did I lie to you?"

"You withheld the truth from me, that's the same as lying."

"That is not the same as lying."

"I think it is. You weren't open with me, what kind 'best friend' is that?"

Silence.

"I-"

"I'm sorry. I was just… I thought I was protecting you but… Maybe, I didn't do the right thing, but I just wanted… to protect you, because I… care about you."

Silence.

"I'm sorry, ok? You know how much you mean to me, I-"

"Stop. I was the one apologizing, and now… It… doesn't matter anymore. We both have things we're sorry for, and… now that its all over, we can… move on. Right?"

"…yeah." Axel nodded. "Right."

Roxas turned to leave. There was nothing else to say. Axel clenched his fist. As Roxas was about to walk out the door, "Wait."

Roxas turned around. He didn't say anything but gave an inquisitive look.

Axel looked at the ground. "I… Roxas, I… love you."

Roxas' eyes widened. "Axel…" It was hard to tell what his feelings were from the way he said that.

Axel meanwhile was so overcome with the moment that he sat down on the bed. He continued to stare at the ground, unaware that Roxas came to sit beside him. Now that was he was up close, Roxas could see tears in his eyes. "Axel…" he repeated and placed his hand on his.

Axel seemed to be momentarily at a loss for words. "You… you made me feel… feelings… when I shouldn't have felt anything…" It seemed hard for him to get the words out. He didn't look at Roxas as he said them but continued to stare at the ground, perhaps embarrassed by the tears. "Even before I… lost my heart, when I had so many… I… no one ever… not like…" He stopped for a minute. He closed his eyes. "It's just… so clear…" Axel decided to stop talking. He figured he wasn't even making any sense. He couldn't even look at Roxas, for he was afraid of his reaction.

But, Roxas placed his hand on Axel's cheek and turned his face toward him. At last, Axel slowly opened his eyes. They met Roxas' eyes, which were also swimming in tears. Neither of them had to say anything else. And then their eyes closed again as they kissed each other for the first time. Roxas wrapped his arms around Axel and Axel wrapped his arms around Roxas. They didn't know how much time was going by and they didn't care. They didn't know that the door was still wide open and they didn't care. Everything was blurred out. Until they both heard: "Hey you g-" followed by a scream.

Roxas turned around quickly enough to see Namine rush out of the room in a panic. "Namine!" He called, but no answer. _When did she get here? _Roxas hopped off the bed. "I better talk to her… We'll finish this 'conversation' later." He kissed Axel once more then rushed after her.

Xion was walking down the hall when she was confronted with a flustered Namine rushing in the opposite direction. "Namine?"

Namine turned to face the other girl.

"Are you okay?"

"No, I am not okay, I am _extremely disturbed_!"

As Xion was about to inquire further, Roxas rushed into the hall as well, "Namine!"

"What happened?" Xion asked, looking at the both of them.

"Why don't you ask _him_?" Namine seethed, indicating Roxas. Xion turned to him in confusion.

"Xion, I'll tell you later, ok?" He rushed after Namine, who had taken off again. He followed her into another room.

"What was that all about?" She screamed at him.

"Look, Namine, I…"

"I mean are you _serious_? I thought it was Xion I would have to worry about, but noooooo."

"Namine, we… I never considered us… I mean…"

"'Every time Sora and Kairi are together, we'll be together', remember that? Didn't you say that?"

"Yes, but I just meant… we'd, like, keep each other company… what did you think I meant? Sexually?"

"I thought you meant we were gonna 'be togther' like 'BE TOGETHER', like, _together_-together, you know?"

Roxas sighed. "Look, Namine, I'm sorry but, I don't love you. I barely even know you…" Namine didn't respond, she just glared at him. "I wish there was something I could say to make you feel better, but there isn't…" And with that, Roxas left a very angry Namine alone.

When Roxas had gone after Namine Axel had gone into the living room to find Riku sitting on the couch, so he sat next to him. Axel hadn't spoken to Riku much before, and didn't know much about him. They were silent for a few minutes before Axel turned to address him. "I suppose if things hadn't have turned out the way they did, I would probably hate you for taking Roxas away from me."

"Well, I had to do what I had to do to get Sora back." was Riku's answer.

"I tried to turn him back into a Heartless, you know. To get Roxas back."

"Well, if you had succeeded, I'd be right there again to get him and bring him back." Riku smiled as he spoke.

"And if you did, I would be right there again to try to get him back."

They stared at each other for a minute, in a face-off kind of manner. Riku spoke again. "So I guess we are lucky with how things turned out. Because it seems like otherwise we'd be playing tug-of-war with a person."

Axel smiled. "Do you love him?"

Riku turned toward him again, wide-eyed. "What? What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Do you love him?"

Riku sat in stunned silence for a minute. "Even if I did, it doesn't matter because Sora loves Kairi." With that, Riku slammed down the cup he'd been drinking out of onto the table and stormed out of the room.

"So what exactly happened?"

Now Roxas had to explain the situation to Xion. He wasn't sure how awkward this would be. The three of them had always been a group, best friends, and Roxas wasn't sure how she would react.

"Well you see, um, Axel and I, we… um…" He thought about how to phrase this for a minute, then he decided it would be better to just come out with it straight up. "We're in love."

Roxas cringed slightly after saying it as he waited for Xion's reaction, but she gasped happily and said "I knew it!"

"You, did?"

"Well, I mean I always thought there was something between you two… Aw, this is so… cute!"

"Yeah, uh, its… cute…. But are you sure you're ok with it? I mean I don't want you to feel left out or anything…"

"I think Namine is the one who is left out…"

"Yeah, you're probably right about that actually…" Roxas looked troubled. He felt like Namine was his responsibility.

"Don't worry about her." Xion put her hand on his shoulder. "I'll look after her."

Roxas smiled. "Okay, thanks."


End file.
